A Los Angeles man has taken the Los Angeles Dodgers to court after he says a cell phone slipped off an upper deck railing at Dodger Stadium, crashed down into the lower level, and slammed into his head. The complaint says the incident happened on July 24, 2024, and that the lawsuit was filed this month. The plaintiff is seeking at least $100,000 for past medical expenses and compensatory damages.
What the complaint says
The lawsuit, filed by Wayne Alldredge, alleges that the phone tumbled from a railing on an upper deck and struck him while he was seated below, opening a head wound that required stitches and follow up care at an Orange County hospital. According to the complaint, Alldredge continues to experience cognitive and memory issues, frequent headaches, and dizziness. He claims stadium staff should have been monitoring the railing area to keep fans from placing items where they could fall and that the Dodgers should have installed netting, barriers, or screens to block objects from dropping into seats below, according to ABC10News.
How the suit frames the Dodgers' obligations
The complaint brings negligence and premises liability claims, arguing the team knew or reasonably should have known that objects could fall from the upper decks and that basic precautions could have prevented injuries. It seeks compensatory damages for medical bills and the ongoing symptoms Alldredge describes in the filing. Legal coverage notes that the case was filed in state court and that the alleged failures by the club to prevent a falling object are the core of the liability theory, according to Law360.
Dodgers' response
A team representative declined to get into the specifics, with the organization stating that it does not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit lands amid a series of recent fan injury claims involving the Dodgers and other clubs and could sharpen scrutiny on policies about placing items on railings and what counts as reasonable protection for people in the stands. As of now, the Dodgers have not announced any operational changes linked to this complaint, according to ABC10News.
Where this fits in the netting and safety debate
Major League teams have been slowly beefing up protective netting since the mid 2010s, after a run of high profile fan injuries prompted MLB to recommend broader in stadium protections. Each ballpark has been handling upgrades on its own timeline, in part because of different stadium layouts. Past lawsuits and safety scares have pushed some franchises to extend netting and rethink where concessions and giveaways are handed out above seating areas. Recent coverage of other litigation against the Dodgers, including a March 2026 suit after a woman was injured by a promotional BuzzBall drink, shows this case sits inside a larger debate over fan safety and venue responsibility. See reporting on netting changes at venues via MLB.com and on a separate Dodgers lawsuit from CBS Los Angeles.
Legal takeaway
At bottom, the complaint asks whether the Dodgers breached a duty of care by failing to prevent what the plaintiff says was a foreseeable falling object hazard, a standard plaintiffs have to meet in negligence cases, and whether the existing protections at Dodger Stadium were in line with industry expectations. Defenses in similar lawsuits often lean on arguments about assumed risk and the limits of what a venue is legally required to prevent, with outcomes turning on details such as the extent of screening and whether the operator’s conduct meaningfully increased the ordinary level of danger. Legal coverage and the filing indicate the dispute will play out in state court as the parties move through pleadings and discovery, according to Law360.
